The Green Telescope - The Green Telescope Complete? (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.6)

The brilliant early '80s garage/psychedelic band from Edinburgh, Scotland. I mean, fuck yes! The Scots have produced so many amazing bands in so many genres and styles over the years, from garage punk and neo-psychedelia to C86, jangle pop, shoegaze and noise pop. I guess there must be something in the water.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lenny many years ago at a Thanes gig in Athens, Greece. Most of the conversation was between John Alexopoulos of The Sound Explosion and Lenny. I was just sitting there, watching in awe at how well-informed he was. Back then, I was more into the Velvet Underground-inspired bands than the Velvets themselves. But Mr. Helsing put an end to that.

Anyway, the band's original line-up consisted of Lenny Helsing on guitar and vocals, Bruce Lyall on organ, and Colin Blakey on bass. Before any records were made, Colin Blakey left and was replaced by Alan McLeann and the group then added a drummer, Gavin Henderson, soon after. Steve Fraser temporarily took over from Alan, playing bass on the three tracks the group recorded for the Psycho label compilation, 'The Waking Dream'. He also played on the recording of Pink Floyd's "Scream Thy Last Scream", which featured on the Syd Barrett tribute LP 'Beyond the Wildwood', released on Alan Duffy's Imaginary label a few years later, in 1988. The four-piece line-up of Helsing, Lyall, McLean and Henderson recorded the 'Two by Two' EP for Imaginary, after which a final single, "Face in a Crowd' b/w 'Thoughts of a Madman", was issued in 1986 with a new drummer, Mal Kergan. After this they would change their name to The Thanes Of Cawdor then shorten that to The Thanes. For some (really) strange reason, this outfit lacks a proper reissue treatment of their records or a complete works compilation, so I had to create one myself to secure new fans for them and their legacy.

Dig!

The Charlatans - The Early Singles: 1989-1994 (WTS Popkid No.1)

Let's go back to the 90s, when I was entering adolescence and taking my first steps beyond the Beatles and Elvis. That's when you start listening to other things besides what's in your parents' record collection (and mine didn't have much, they were mainly fans of the Greek new wave and obviously of Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Hadjidakis) and you unwittingly start getting into subcultures without knowing it, adopting their dresscode, hairstyles and behaviors.

The radio played mostly Greek music-let's say a good 90% of it, which made the whole endeavor even more difficult. Of the remaining 10%, 9% was mainstream nonsense. Those were difficult times. Until the indie scene boom came to MTV, we were literally living in a desert. The fanzines and clubs of Athens were two hours away from where I grew up, and it took me a few years to go there to study.

So, apart from what I've already written, the first song that blew my mind was 'The Only One I Know' by The Charlatans. I first heard it at a local disco at a dance held by my school. I don't know if the DJ was just playing whatever was a hit or if he knew what he was doing and managed to slip this into the programme, but either way, it did the job. The Hammond organ stuck in my mind. The vocals were unlike anything I had ever heard before: ethereal and carefree. I just started dancing in pure euphoria.

To cut a long story short, I came across that song again and finally found out what it was and who sang it while I was tuning in to one or two radio stations in Athens that played 'different' kind of music one weekend when I was visiting my grandmother. That's where I caught the virus. To this day, I still consider The Charlatans to be one of my favourite bands. Outsiders and survivors of any music trend of the industry. Baggy, Britpop, you name it.

Their early years, of course, still hold a special place in my heart. The way they married dance rhythms played by non electronic organs and 60s sounds are still unbeatable. Don't get me wrong; I love most of the Inspiral Carpets and like-minded bands, and I have them in my record collection, but the Charlatans did it better. Their neo-psychedelic, maddening drumbeat and the crazed Hammond pays tribute to both ? & The Mysterians and Deep Purple Mk1. It's no surprise that they were fans of The Prisoners.

I have collected all of their singles and EPs, along with all of the B-sides, from their early days until they changed direction while retaining their significance. At first, I had thought about including the demos too, but I decided that the musical journey is already long enough for those of you who decide to follow it.

Much love and respect to Rob Collins, Jon Brooks and all the surviving members who are continuing the legacy.

Gang War – These Boots Were Made For Fighting / Rumbling In Ann Arbor Michigan (Missing In Action Records, 1989 - White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.5)

Johnny called me up, one night, all excited, to tell me that he was starting a new band with Wayne Kramer, which, of course, I thought was fucking great. They wanted to start recording right away and needed a drummer. I was in New York and they were in Michigan but before I could blink they had me on a plane that very night and in a studio in An Arbor moments later. I was thrilled to meet Wayne who turned out to be even cooler that I had imagined. There were no rehearsals or anything. Ron Cooke, a friend of Wayne from Detroit was on bass, great guy too. I just sat at the drums having no idea what we were gonna do. They rolled the tape and Johnny just looked at me and said “Bo Diddley” and so I started ..Bam-ba-bala-bam bam-bam.. and we recorded Who Do Voodoo on the spot. Then we did M.I.A., then it was Just Because I’m White, Fats Domino’s I’m Gonna Be A Wheel and I’d Much Rather Be With The Boys, from The Stones. They didn’t like the studio we were in, so the second night we went to another one. One funny thing that happened was that when we got to that studio, the guy who owned it got a little freaked out when he saw us arrive and asked to see everybody’s I.D! Gang War’s “manager” told him:

“You must be joking! These guys happen to be very famous musicians! This is Wayne Kramer from The MC5, and you got Johnny Thunders from The New York Dolls over here!” The owner didn’t seem convinced at all and spat back “Don’t try to pull a fast one on me, buddy, my son was a big fan of The New York Dolls and he’s right here!”. He then proceeded to call his son “HEY, BILLY, COME DOWN HERE A MINUTE, WOULD YOU ?!” and out comes the fat kid in bermuda shorts, eating a sandwich.. “Is this one from the New York Dolls?” he asked, pointing at Johnny. The kid took a close look, hesitated a bit, then declared, amazed “It’s Johnny Thunders, dad, their guitar player!!”. So they let us in…

Johnny put me up in this real nice house where he was staying with his wife Julie and their two babies. We recorded for three nights in a row. The band being brand new, Wayne and Johnny were obviously thrilled to be playing together and sparks were flying! Back in New York, I wasn’t sure what to do, but I couldn’t just dump my own band, you know, we were totally into it.  Gang War wanted to tour and The Senders were already booked here and there, so it would have been hard to be able to do both. In the end, for some strange reason, I kinda concluded that, with Johnny on board, Gang War may not survive very long, and decided to stick with my own droogs. But my three nights in Michigan as Gang War’s first drummer remains one of the best memories of my life.

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Special thanks to Steve!